Sat 21 – Day 3 At this point we already had 38,000 of our required 50,000 points and Saturday's plan called for collecting another 36,500 points and 1,114km. I arose before the alarm went off at 0500, geared-up, re-packed, put a bit of air in the tyres and we were on the move by 0605 heading south for the first three CP's at Menzies Ferry, Mataura Island and Bluff. I had Chriss behind me and his headlights were bloody bright so I turned my mirrors down and got on with the job, only ...
Another TT done and dusted and it was a beauty! After the frustrations of last year I took a slightly different approach this year, ….but then Mike Hyde has constantly evolved the concept of his ride so each year is different anyway and this time swung back to a ride where one could easily get their required points, then ride where they liked to stack up the km's. I didn't do that though! I looked at the layout of the checkpoints and my plan morphed theough ...
Last week I had the bike serviced and a new set of Z8's fitted and yesterday we did our World Tour of the Whanganui River. This was a conditioning ride in preparation for the TT2000 and it was quite good to be able to do it with Steve and Woody (Chris didn't turn up) as we were also able to test our new Sena S20's. The original plan had us heading out through the Wai'rapa, but with the weather forecast having that side as the last to clear, we opted to meet at BP Mana at 0800 and ...
I pretty much finished my TT2000 prep by printing our Route booklets on Friday, so yesterday was scheduled for a conditioning ride (ie 500-700km). The first thought was to do the World Tour of the Whanganui River road (you know, Jurusalem, Corinth, Athens & London), but since my tyres are on their last legs (booked in for 60K service and new pair of Z8's on Thursday), I thought it might be more prudent top stay closer to home, so a loose plan evolved to just go over the Hill and see ...
Another day in the saddle started just after 0500, a quick scrub, kit-up, the bike and car were already packed and we were on the road to Caltex Rimutaka by 0545 for the start of the 8th Capital 1.000km Cruise. We pulled in to the forecourt a little earlier than usual, at 0610, and there were already more than half a dozen punters eagerly awaiting to check-in and depart, so I gassed up then assisted Ann to get her table and chair set-up, the rider list and strips of yellow and black (Resene) tape ...
Three years between rides is a bit of a stretch, and I might be a bit biased, but God damn it, I enjoyed the shit out of the North Island 1600!! The last few blogs have outlined the prep' and the weekend before the big event had me in a bit of a panic to fix the stebel horn because I new BrianH was going to be scrutineering the bikes and if he can pick up, that the rear tyre on a Beemer has been fitted back to front, he was sure as hell going to pick up that my horn was neither squeeking ...
Testing this Blog thing to see how it works Saturday Morning Ride 19/07/14 Ride report (part 1) Its Saturday and still dark, best gear up to the hilt as its 2deg on the coastal hill of home (sure to be colder on the flats) Wheel KT down the drive to be svelte and try to jump start her just in case battery is reluctant, bike skids and burbles into life then stops, O well kick her in the guts on the starter then, bam no problems, and wait ...
Nice day for a ride to Kaiaua Mataharu/Ohinewhi Road had just been graded to a pretty nasty camber which made for a more cautious ride over the Hapuakohe Range. Came across a MX day on Coxhead Rd in a recently cut Maize paddock. Stopped for a quick look, thought about doing a lap but the Shinko 700 isn't really designed for that + im a stingy bugger and didnt want to let go of some coin (basicly just scared) On to the East Coast Rd aka ...